An interesting, if predictable, mix of leadership (Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy, Issa), retirees (McKeon, Coble, Wolf), and blue-state centrists (Nunes, Grimm, Peter King). Per Robert Costa, here’s how Boehner broke the news to the caucus this morning. Good luck squaring this logic with his big amnesty push:

Ahead of the midterm elections, Boehner argued that now is not the time to get drawn into weeks of dramatic headlines and fiscal battles with President Obama. “We’re not going to make ourselves the story,” he said. He spoke about the need for the party to not get mired in damaging endeavors…

But they didn’t speak up or clap. Boehner just stood there for a moment after he finished, eyed the room, and walked toward his seat. On his way there, Boehner shook his head, then turned to the nearly mute crowd and wondered aloud why he wasn’t getting applause. “I’m getting this monkey off your back and you’re not going to even clap?” Boehner asked, scowling playfully at some tea-party favorites.

The last plan, to trade raising the debt ceiling for restoring COLA adjustments to military pensions that had been stripped out by Paul Ryan’s budget, simply couldn’t get 218 Republican votes. Per WaPo, Rep. Tom Cotton, a veteran and Mark Pryor’s challenger for Arkansas’s Senate seat, was especially grieved that he might be forced to vote for either a debt-ceiling hike or against restoring those military benefits. Solution: A clean hike and a separate bill on military pensions that passed this afternoon overwhelmingly, 326-90. Interestingly, Paul Ryan voted no on both, arguing that restoring the COLA adjustment meant taking money away from military readiness. He stood by his budget to the bitter end.

Exit quotation from Dan Foster:

We've ended an era in which a GOP minority controlled the Senate and are entering an era in which a Democratic minority controls the House.

Blowback

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And Speaker Boehner, there is nothing worth clapping about in DC either. Do your damned jobs, then sit down and shut the h*** up. There’s a lot of ground needed to dig yourself out of this ditch. Stop acting like a pouty school boy.

But they didn’t speak up or clap. Boehner just stood there for a moment after he finished, eyed the room, and walked toward his seat. On his way there, Boehner shook his head, then turned to the nearly mute crowd and wondered aloud why he wasn’t getting applause. “I’m getting this monkey off your back and you’re not going to even clap?” Boehner asked, scowling playfully at some tea-party favorites.

“Weepy” Boehner must not realize no one applauded Neville Chamberlain either … then or now.

How long before a sufficient number of the caucus vote to throw this imbecile and the rest of the leadership under the bus?

From the thread earlier in the day on this (nailed it, except it’s a new thread rather than an update to the previous one):

Awaiting the RINOs and non conservatives to come in and say “We have to cave here and just raise the debt ceiling, we can’t do anything to anger the media and ruin the chances of taking the senate. This is not the hill to die on, we have to live to fight another day and we can do that after winning the senate”

“Mr. Bishop, this is the RNC and we need your pledge this year. Would you like to give one hundre….Mr. Bishop, I don’t understand what’s so funny. Mr. Bish…WHOA! Is that language really necessary? All I’m trying to do is ask you fo….hello? Helloooo? Hello?”

You and Ed tried to square caving during the October shutdown on this vote. Boehner and the GOP surrender weasels caved then FOR A FIGHT HERE. Surrender to live and fight another day. Remember that stupid mantra?

Are you all liars or is there ever going to be a day of reckoning besides the one that comes from Christ’s return?

I have to say sharrukin, couldn’t agree more. Some way somehow something has got to give. We are not even near the tracks anymore with this government. The people still seem disinterested. The don’t rock the boat crowd has us on the ropes. Have not seen this much dysfunctional governance in my lifetime.

You and Ed tried to square caving during the October shutdown on this vote. Boehner and the GOP surrender weasels caved then FOR A FIGHT HERE. Surrender to live and fight another day. Remember that stupid mantra?

I am a new poster here but have been a reader here for years. I do remember reading something along those lines back in October. Something like “Don’t worry, in February this will come up again and there will be more leverage” or something like that. Someone should dig up that old thread.

I have been reading here long enough to remember the same mantra back in 2011 during the continuing resolution debate. “Don’t worry, the debt ceiling fight comes in July, that is when the GOP will have all the leverage”

The establishment GOP has clearly become the non-infected on The Walking Dead who have given up any hope of a better world. They don’t really care if they get bitten by the zombies or not. So, they just act like zombies and hope nobody notices that they are not dead creatures without a soul. Not hard to fake when you are a member of Congress.

The people still seem disinterested. The don’t rock the boat crowd has us on the ropes. Have not seen this much dysfunctional governance in my lifetime.

Bmore on February 11, 2014 at 6:13 PM

People have their own lives to live and most only pay partial (if any) attention to politics. That doesn’t mean they aren’t aware of what is going on. The utter contempt for congress in poll after poll suggests that ordinary disintrested folks do understand some of the situation, though Obama’s relection would be the counter-point to that.

When things go bad you may see that underlying hostility become much more obvious.

Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) praised the upcoming House vote on a “clean” debt-ceiling package and suggested that House Republican leaders should next hold a similar vote on immigration reform.

I have been reading here long enough to remember the same mantra back in 2011 during the continuing resolution debate. “Don’t worry, the debt ceiling fight comes in July, that is when the GOP will have all the leverage”

tcufrog on February 11, 2014 at 6:15 PM

LOL – yeah! And remember when Boehner said “We’re gonna kick their asses!”

???

Then he went to the White House and parlayed 60 Billion in cuts down to 400 million!

My congressman-Neugebauer-voted the right way. He usually does vote the right way. The problem is while he’s voting the right way-he has no fire. He doesn’t want to make waves.
Well-voting correctly isn’t good enough anymore. TX 19 needs a passionate defender of conservative values.
Come early March, we might get one.

Unfortunately, when spending bills are written, no money is allocated to cover the spending these bills demand. Then when the bills come due, Congress has a hissy fit about the spending. They should have considered that when they wrote these bills. Stupid as stupid gets.

Why is it still not a time to remove this sack of crap from Speakership? He will do way more damage between now and elections.

riddick on February 11, 2014 at 6:18 PM

If you blame this solely on Bohener you are not fixing the issue. If you were to change the Speaker today you would end up in exactly the same place we are now. The issue, more than Bohener alone, is that group of big spending Rinos (30 or so) that just voted to with the Democrats earlier today. Without them there is no R majority in the House.

So, before replacing the Speaker, there needs to be a cleansing of the party from the guys whose only difference with Democrats is that they like big spending on different programs. Unless you get rid of these “Republicans” who just want to keep their jobs for another decade, who want to avoid arguments against Obama for how they will be painted in the media, who want to spend more because they have their pet projects and want to spend more, and that will sabotage their own party whenever the idea of doing the opposite is mentioned, then just replacing the speaker will change nothing. The list is above.

You can’t just look at this in a bubble and focus solely on Bohener. Then you would be treating the symptoms and not the disease.

He was abandoned by left and right within his own caucus, the fruits of the October disaster peddled by Cruz, Lee, SCF, heritage. Because it is routinely forgotten by his critics, there would be no GOP majority without BOTH the moderates and the hard-liners; the GOP house leadership is about 12 votes short of a functioning center-right majority.

The federal government has obviously failed in dealing with the national debt. This situation will only continue to get worse, as Congress and the President demonstrate that they cannot control spending.

The Major who sent us is back in the Officers Club playing cards and drinking.

The Lt. is a newbe just out of ROTC and green as hell.

The commies have a spy in the fob operations hgts who knows our insert point and where we are to get a out lift.

The only thing we have is each other. If we start looking out just for ourselves and not keeping unit togetherness and start doing dumb things out of fear and or distrust we are for sure doomed.

Stay alert, keep the good guys we have up in D.C. walking point.
Make sure we have enough ammo for a long drawn out fight.
If any of U.S. find one of the unit not carrying their weight and or dealing with the “others” we have to cull them out.

Watch for those who sow discord in the unit at rest stops and over night bivwacks.

US debt ceiling debate 2013-2014
1hRep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., votes no on the debt limit bill – @frankthorpNBC
see original on twitter.com

canopfor on February 11, 2014 at 6:32 PM

Who gives a crap? They are in cahoots. When a Rep. needs a little cover -like Ryan does for being an amnest a**hole traitor- they’ll him make a vote that is supposed to make us think “Hey, maybe this guy really is principled!” while knowing it’s a one vote that won’t change the outcome.

On fiscal issues, I’d rather they just abstain and let the dems kill the economy on their own. Same for Obamacare (re: Byron York’s earlier article at the Washington Examiner); forget repeal while O’s in office and forget repair forever. Just let it faceplant.

At this point, the GOP should fight to uphold the conservative values on social issues, and scream loudly regarding fiscal issues while refusing to vote on them. The sooner we go under, the sooner we can start the climb upward. At least so long as the citizenry can clearly see a contrast in parties, that is.